"As far as my dad and my Uncle Roger, I love my dad, I love my Uncle Roger, but they need to be more positive. They really need to be more positive. If Adrien Broner lost, okay, he lost. It comes with the territory. You win some, you lose some. At the end of the day, he walked home with a seven-figure check. He don't have to ask nobody for nothing. Adrien Broner's trainer [Mike Stafford] is a helluva trainer. If my dad or Roger is not training a fighter, I don't feel like it's right to talk negative about a trainer if they're not training the fighter," stated undefeated pound-for-pound king Floyd "Money" Mayweather, who had a lot to say about a number of topics, including Adrien Broner's recent loss to Marcos Maidana and the negative feedback he's received. You don't want to miss what else he had to say regarding recent comments his father and uncle made about Broner, his own future plans, and much more. Check it out!
BT: What's good, Champ?
FM: Whassup, Ben?
BT: A lot, actually. Obviously Adrien got upset by Maidana this past Saturday. I know you already gave a brief statement on it, but can you talk a little bit more about that fight?
FM: I think Broner showed that he has a lot of heart and he's a real fighter. That's one thing that we cannot take away from Broner. I just feel like Maidana was the better man. I think he outhustled Adrien Broner. If I'm not mistaken, I think Adrien Broner was at lightweight. In my honest opinion, I think 135 or 140 is a good weight class for Adrien Broner. But I think he'll be able to bounce back. I feel like everything happens for a reason and I think that should only make him stronger and make him come back and want to be a better fighter.
BT: Do you think it was a bad idea for him to make the jump from 135 to 147?
FM: I mean, of course he has the best management team in the world because, at one particular time, they picked the right opponent at welterweight, which was Paulie Malignaggi. He's not a big puncher, whereas Maidana, he's a big puncher. The Malignaggi fight was chosen by his management team. The Maidana fight was chosen by Adrien himself. He should have his management team continue to pick his fights for him; that's why he's got his management team. I'm not saying that was a bad fight for him, you know; it was just a learning experience. With the Malignaggi fight, they chose Paulie because he was going up to welterweight to be a part of history. Paulie's a very, very good boxer. Take nothing away from Paulie, he's a very good boxer, but he's not a big puncher, so his management team didn't feel like Paulie was really a threat. But even though Paulie Malignaggi isn't a big puncher, he is a slick boxer, so you gotta watch him because he can upset a guy. His management team done a brilliant job as far as picking Paulie and making history with that fight for Adrien.
BT: Would you advice him to jump right back into an immediate rematch with Maidana or do you think he should take a tune-up fight first?
FM: I don't think he should be focused on chasing the Maidana fight. I think what would be a good move for him is this. May 3rd, fight on my undercard; you know, fight a solid guy at 140, get back on track and get your career in order. That fight with Maidana should be nothing but a minor setback for a major comeback. But as far as Adrien is concerned, he still has a lot to learn. When I spoke to him after his fight, I said you're gonna have people that like you; you're gonna have people that dislike you. The thing is this, I have fans that like me and I have fans that don't like, but you gonna respect me. Once people get to throwing bottles and throwing beer on you, throwing different things at you at the fight, you're losing respect from the fans.
BT: Are you surprised to see the amount of hatred he's been getting from the fans and, more importantly, do you think he's getting that negative feedback because he tried to follow your blueprint to success?
FM: Everybody is giving Adrien Broner a hard time and that's not right. I'm not here to talk bad about him. They say, "Oh, he wants to be like Floyd Mayweather." You know what? I commend him. If I was trying to get involved in basketball and I see a guy who comes from the same background that I come from and he's living the type of lifestyle that I want to live and he's doing the type of things that I want to do, absolutely I'm going to try to follow in his footsteps. It's not a crime for Tom Brady or Peyton Manning to want to be like Joe Montana or Dan Marino. They don't get flack for that. They get praise for that. The difference between me and Broner is this, you got to know when to turn it on and when turn it off. You know, with me, I'm more like, okay, this guy ain't on my level, but I respect him still as a man. When people lose respect for you, there's nothing else. And the thing with Adrien Broner is this, I think sometimes, and Broner knows this firsthand, people can sometimes tell you what you want to hear. I'm not going to tell you what you want to hear; I'ma tell you the truth. There's boundaries and limitations on everything except for making money.
BT: A lot of fans are saying that he brought that hatred upon himself because of his antics outside of the ring, like the sex tape for example.
FM: Okay, Adrien Broner had sex, he filmed himself, and everybody seen it; woopty do. He's not the first person that did it and he's not going to be the last person. He likes to dance. Michael Jackson was a dancer. Chris Brown is a dancer. So he likes to have fun and has personality; that's not a crime. Like I said before, there's boundaries and limitations to everything and he has to know his boundaries and his limitations. Like I said before, everybody wanna praise you and ride the wave when you're at the top. Everybody wanna say you're the best and say they love you and kiss your ass when you're at the top. You know, one minor setback and then no one has anything positive to say anymore. Everything is negative. All everybody wanna do is say, "I told you so." I just feel like this, the majority of the people that made a video or put something on Instagram or Twitter about Adrien Broner, well you show me where you made millions on a Saturday night. You show me where you got a seven-figure check. Everybody that had something negative to say about Adrien Broner on December 14th, he got a seven-figure check. There's a lot of people out here getting they ass kicked for free; for nothing. If you is going to take an L, it don't hurt to take an L for a seven-figure check. When Adrien Broner beat 27 opponents, did anybody have something negative to say about him then? All in all, Adrien Broner's good outweighs his bad. Does Maidana have more losses than Adrien Broner?
BT: Yep.
FM: Okay, do my dad have more losses than Adrien Broner?
BT: Yep.
FM: Do Roger have more losses than Adrien Broner?
BT: Yep.
FM: Okay, so, like I said before, before we can point the finger at somebody, we gotta take a step back, take a deep breath, and see what position we are in.
BT: Speaking of pointing the finger, I don't know if you're aware, but recently, both your dad and your uncle had some words to say...
FM: (Cutting in) As far as my dad and my Uncle Roger, I love my dad, I love my Uncle Roger, but they need to be more positive. They really need to be more positive. If Adrien Broner lost, okay, he lost. It comes with the territory. You win some, you lose some. At the end of the day, he walked home with a seven-figure check. He don't have to ask nobody for nothing. Adrien Broner's trainer [Mike Stafford] is a helluva trainer. If my dad or Roger is not training a fighter, I don't feel like it's right to talk negative about a trainer if they're not training the fighter. It's no different from when my dad had Ricky Hatton and Ricky Hatton got knocked out, and then my dad is going to say, "Well, that's not my game plan." Well, you cannot tell the public that's not your game plan because you claimed that you had in him shape and you claimed that you had him ready. Those are the things that happen in the sport of boxing. If my dad was in Adrien Broner's corner or Roger was in Adrien Broner's corner, the same thing would've happened. Sometimes when things are in God's hands, there's nothing we can do. I don't like the fact that if my dad is not training a fighter or Roger is not training a fighter, then they like to talk negative about the fighter or talk negative about the trainers. I don't feel that's fair and I don't feel that's right. I mean, I feel like Adrien Broner is a good fighter and I feel like he has a good trainer. And there's a lot of good trainers out there. Ronnie Shields is a good trainer. Buddy McGirt is a good trainer. Like I said before, there's a lot of good trainers out there. I haven't really seen Freddie Roach work in the gym and I don't have nothing negative to say about Freddie Roach. When Freddie Roach speaks about Floyd Mayweather and is like, "Oh yeah, we want to fight Floyd Mayweather," that's his job because it's a business at the end of the day. Whether he really believes Pacquiao can win or lose, with him, like I said before, it's a business, so he wants to get paid. He knows facing Floyd Mayweather, he's going to make the most money, so that makes the most sense; so if he can get the Floyd Mayweather fight, that's the fight he's going to speak about.
But like I said before, as far as what my dad and my Uncle Roger said, I don't feel it's right because I feel like Adrien Broner's trainer been through a lot of struggles like a lot of Americans have. I'm not going to badmouth the guy because he has always supported me from day one. He also believed in me when I was an amateur. He used to be like, "One day, you're going to be the biggest star in this sport. One day, you're going to be the best fighter in the sport of boxing." So I commend him for being such a great trainer. You gotta realize, Adrien Broner has accomplished things my father hasn't accomplished, so you shouldn't go out there just on a limb and talk bad about a guy. You know, Adrien Broner is a 3-time world champion. My daddy has never won a world title. You also gotta realize this, even though this era is different from when my father was fighting, when you look at my dad and his boxing record, look at the win-loss record of the opponents he's faced (325-302-24) and compare that to Adrien Broner's opponents (432-91-23).
My Uncle Roger, his focus should be his health. It hurts my feelings that everybody wants to sit around here and badmouth all these fighters. It's just not right. I haven't said one thing bad about Jessie Vargas. Jessie Vargas was over here with my company. He was with Mayweather Promotions, we got him started, and we got him on pay-per-view. Now he's over there with Bob Arum. If he's fighting on ESPN or he's fighting on HBO, it's more power to him. I wish him nothing but the best. I don't have anything negative to say about him. If a guy was with me, but he's no longer with me, I have nothing bad to say about him, you know. He's not married to me. This is my job; this is business. People start mixing their personal feelings and their emotions with business, and it shouldn't be like that.
BT: Obviously you've never lost before, but after suffering a loss like this, do you think Adrien's marketability or star power will be hurt in any way?
FM: To be honest, the loss made him more famous. The loss brought him more notoriety. So like I said before, fame can be a gift and a curse. Now, it's a gift. It brought him more notoriety. I'm pretty sure his Instagram followers went up. I'm pretty sure his Twitter followers went up. I'm pretty sure his Facebook followers went up. I think too many people are caught up in social media. You have to realize, people spend their whole day on Instagram and Twitter. Even with the Adrien Broner situation, I just feel like, you know what Adrien? Look at this as a plus because you're something to talk about. So whatever you done in your career, you done something right because everybody talked about you; all this week, everybody been talking about nothing but Adrien Broner, so whatever Adrien Broner has been doing, he's been doing something right because that's all you been hearing about. What's so crazy is this, Maidana won the fight and nobody is even speaking on him. He's nothing to talk about.
BT: Speaking of Maidana, I know you haven't made a decision yet on your opponet, but based on his performance against Adrien, is Maidana now eligible to win the Mayweather Sweepstakes?
FM: Absolutely! Yes, Maidana's name is now in the lottery jackpot box. We all know the Pacquiao fight, at this particular time, will never happen, and the reason why the fight won't happen is because I will never do business with Bob Arum again in life, and Pacquiao is Bob Arum's fighter. Bob Arum gives Pacquiao a date, whereas Floyd Mayweather gives Floyd Mayweather his own date. I will be fighting again in May and I will be fighting again in September. I'm gonna give you two reasons the Pacquiao fight is not going to happen. Like I said before, I will never do business with Bob Arum in life, but I don't wish him nothing bad. And I want to see Manny Pacquiao's real pay-per-view numbers. Get his pay-per-view numbers from his last fight and compare them to my pay-per-view numbers with Canelo Alvarez. Did he do 1.2 million homes?
BT: Nope.
FM: Did he do 1 million homes?
BT: Nope.
FM: I know he's got a situation with that guy with the three letters in his name [I.R.S.]. That's why he's trying to fight me. He wants me to resolve his problem with that guy with three letters in his name. I don't have problems like that because, you know, I got the right team. In the past, of course you're going to hear hearsay. "Well, Floyd had a problem with this; he had a problem with the I.R.S." No one has ever put a padlock on my house. Forget what you read and what you hear. I'm stating facts. It's like Shots Of Me, what you see is what you get.
BT: Yo, I've been meaning to ask you about that Shots Of Me. What exactly is that?
FM: Me and Justin Bieber, of course we got a new app, Shots Of Me. You can get that on your phone. It's cool. It's more organic. Wither other apps, you can play with the color and you can tweak it a little bit. With this, it's more organic; what you see is what you get. Like my personality, what you see is what you get. Shots Of Me is what you see is what you get. Organic. Real. Selfies only. Whoever is reading this interview, I want you to check it out [EDITOR'S NOTE: Click here to get the Shots of Me app].
BT: Well Champ, as always, I appreciate you taking the time to chat with me. Before I let you go, is there anything else you want me to put out there for you?
FM: You know, me, I'm an American first. I represent that red, white, and blue flag if I don't do nothing else. I'm an American first and I love America. I don't like when people ask me if I'm African American. I've never been to Africa. I was born on American soil, so I'm an American. I always say it's not a black thing, it's not a white thing, it's the right thing. I'm an American citizen. When we got in the fight game, we had a plan, and our plan was to be the best, and not just inside the ring. I want to be known as the best fighter outside the ring. If they want to say, "Well, this guy was better than Floyd because he done this; this guy was better than Floyd because he done that," if they don't say I'm good in one department, they will say I'm the best outside the ring in the business department. That's where it counts at for real.
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